i've been working on laLAaalaaa all the live long day...

look! I finally finished the February Lady sweater. (February 17 2009-December 22 2009, with many breaks!)

i can't keep a consistent update schedule.

my life seems to have changed a lot since i started a blog. I have always been busy, but the sort of busy I am now just doesn't mesh well with writing about it. the major reason for this, of course, is my change in job.

i rarely design costumes at this point--partially the economy and partially burn out--and i have been teaching more and more. I started with 2 classes. this quarter i teach 3, and next quarter i will teach 4. really, i just don't feel right talking about my teaching job in a public forum. i love teaching my subjects, and most of the time my students are pretty great. i don't need to talk about the exceptions to that rule!

i don't know if this means i will close down shop or not.

(pssst... look Tractor Sweater for Collin. christmas present--i can do intarsia! sorta.)

the blog isn't hurting anything sitting here, and maybe i will come back when i feel like writing more about my knitting. i have been doing more knitting than writing about it, but overall i am making less progress on projects (time!) i also have taken on a host of new or revived hobbies.

i am trying to maintain my sewing and increase my reading, cooking, documentary watching, and picture taking. i have also taken up crossword puzzles (because i am historically bad at them) and invested a new level of interest in fitness activities. you will notice many of my other activities involve being stationary. i do not want to be a round cat lady knitting on her couch when i am in my late thirties.

i don't know if i will try to garden in pots again this year. if i do i think it will only be tomato plants in some 5 gallon buckets. i need to keep it simple.

here is a project i can share! i made an online portfolio.

and if i am being a blog slacker, you can always look at my yarn antics on ravelry.

stranded colorwork oh, my!

lest you feel abandoned.

i have abandoned no one!
i have just been busy with a new show, meetings for winter projects, and the store. , yes... and the election! it was, dare i say, fun. i was reading a lot of commentary and listening to bipartisan speculation about the forthcoming administration. it has been pretty interesting, not to mention historic.

i have also been knitting some gifts and finishing up projects that were languishing at 50%. i have a current favorite... mittens!

here are four projects for your enjoyment.


Yellow Harvest Mittens
designed by Mari Muinonen
published in Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008

knit in 1 skein Manos del Urguay 100% Wool (color X "topaz") purchased at K+S=B, on size US 6 and 7 DPNS.

started: september 11, 2008.
finished: november 3, 2008.

these were a lot of fun, and they look great. i blocked them after this picture was taken, and they are awesome.

charts were good. bobbles are fun to knit (who knew!) and i have only one complaint. the pattern tells you to work the decrease area in stockinette but if you want continuity on the mitten, you need to be using reverse stockinette. i followed the directions exactly and realized when i was done and had blocked them that i should have been a rebel and changed the pattern.

live and learn, but i still love them. this is a project for me obviously.


Super Mittens
designed by Margrit Lohrer
published in Weekend Kitting

knit in 1 skein Malabrigo Chunky (color 98 "Tuareg", 100% merino wool) purchased at Now and Then, on size US 10 DPNS.

started: october 29, 2008.
finished: october 30, 2008.

these are a gift. i want to keep them. not really. i don't wear much blue, but they are super squishy and soft and this yarn was a delight to knit. this project continues to reinforce my love for the book Weekend Knitting

i was given the book last year for christmas, and i have made 6 projects from it so far. two of those were sweaters. not bad considering how ADD i get about patterns.

i made a hat to go with the mittens. i will share it later in the week.


Baby Mittens
designed by Kaitlyn Wong
published at Sassy Stitches

knit in half a skein of Artful Yarns Serenade (color 6211 "Against All Odds" 70% pima cotton, 30% angora) purchased at K+S=B on size US 5 DPNs.

started: october 24, 2008.
finished october 26, 2008.

i knit these for Collin. i started them when my cousin told me she was headed to the hospital because i needed something else to focus on... a movie was not cutting it. i finished them the day after he was born and they went off in a little birthday gift package with a hat. more on that later.

i modified the pattern to use heavier yarn. the designer calls for fingering weight doubled. i used a "worsted" that i consider especially light.


"Beaded" Cable Mittens
designed by Shirl the Purl
published by Cabin Fever

knit in 2 skeins of Berroco Pure Merino ("kale" 100% superwash merino wool) purchased at K+S=B on size US 4 & 5 DPNS.

started: october 2, 2008.
finished: october 28, 2008.

these are a store model that is part of out holiday 2008 gifts display at the shop. they were fun to knit, and i love the color, but i think the mittens would have looked nicer in a wool that was a bit sticky and didn't have as much smoosh or softness.

i know, sacrilege to exchange looks for softness, but that is how i feel about it.

obviously the pattern is written to be beaded, but i decided to forgo beads because that is a technique many knitters have an artificial fear of trying.... and as a store model, it needs to appeal to the masses.

i also think these could be good for a man in a masculine color, and then the beads are going to be a no-go for most occasions.

looks out for more knitting updates later in the week.

tonight i have pledged to fix my mistakes in the shawl and get back to work on that thing. i really want to take it back to ohio on turkey day... even if i have longer, i feel anxious about it!

not for a lack of material

i have several finished objects that i completed while i was not knit blogging. i squeezed in time to knit, but getting the pictures taken and projects detailed was a little above and beyond.

starting with the oldest...

Classic Cashmere Bootees
designed by Erika Knight
published in Simple Knits for Cherished Babies

knit in Karabella "Cashmere Elite" (#13340 Olive, 100% cashmere) purchased at K+S=B on size US 4 bamboo DPNs.

started/finished: 02.27.08

i was given 5 balls of this cashmere, and i am not a fan of very long scarves, so i used 2/3rds of a ball to knit these. super cute! i knit them before i knew of any babies on the way. now they may have little feet to adorn very soon!

Orangini
designed by Jil Eaton
from Minnowknits

knit in Schulana "Merino Cotton 90" (2 skeins lime, 1 skein electric blue, 53% cotton, 47% wool) on size US 8 needles.

started: March 18, 2008
finished: April 16, 2008

i finished this as a store model. someone else started it in March of 2007 and let it sit after knitting 80% of the back piece. i picked it up out of the back room and finished it up in a few afternoons at work.

love knitting with this yarn!

Luscious Collar
designed by Annette Petavy
published in Interweave Crochet, fall 2006

knit and crocheted in Debbie Bliss "Alpaca Silk" (3 skeins gold, 80% Baby Alpaca 20% Silk) on size US 7 needles and size US I crochet hook.

started: april 22, 2008
finished: april 30, 2008

i whipped up this little number for my mum's birthday. i was in tech at the time for a show with a near 3 hour run time, and i needed something i could knit in the dark. it turned out very well, and she loved it because it is knit in one of her favourite types of yarn--alpaca! good color for my mum too.

finally...

Elegant and Easy Cable Mittens
designed by Marci Richardson
published in 101 Designer One Skein Wonders

knit in Dream in Color "Classy" (1/2 skein "Spring Tickle" 100% superwash merino) on size US 4 & 5 DPNs.

started: february 29, 2008
finished: may 18, 2008

this is my second pair of mittens from this pattern. this time i used seed stitch instead of stockinette for the non-cabled portions of the mitten. i love love love knitting with this yarn. colors are fab!

my shame.

this is all knitting blah blah blah. (fyi for my non-kitting readers.)


i currently have an obscene number of UFOs. un. finished. objects. most of them are playing for the 50% team. boo on that.

i have decided that i need to take a few down before i 1. do any more lizard ridge squares. 2. start the other parts of my cousins' baby gifts or 3. start carving out serious shawl time. i like knitting the shawl, and it has a (distant) deadline, but some of these old friends need to come off the books.

i worked on the Gathered Pullover in front of a movie the other night. each round is 152 boring stitches right now and i have not quiet caught up to where i had to tear it all out and start over. reknitting stocking stitch in the round is not as fun as i wish it was. this will get better once i pass the "tear out" mark and even better once i can work the cable motif.

when i got too bored with the sweater, i finished the movie up by knitting on my cashmere scarf. it is also boring, but i wanted something simple to show off the cashmere. so, yeah. dull. dull. dull. BUT! inspired by how quickly it was coming together, i managed to knit through the 3rd of 4 balls of yarn tonight. it was helped by the fact that i switched from metal to birch needles... the metal was almost too slick for my cashmere, and the birch sped me up a bit.

i joined in some cashmere left over from a 5th ball i knit into a tiny project instead of breaking into the 4th intact ball. in is probably only about 30 yards. if i had waited to use my partial at the end, i could see myself deciding to bind off after ball 4 and never use the partial. discipline! let no cashmere go unknit.

this scarf is on my hit list. as well as the 2nd cabled mitten. (i LOVE the mittens. they are fun to knit and the yarn rocks--Dream in Color "Classy") i will feel much less shame about the pullover or sock once these other two re done. i will also stop feeling like the only color i knit with is green.

(it sort of is.)

gone, baby, gone.

i have been silent all week because i had to cram all the work i would have done this weekend into the week days because i am out of town friday-sunday. i promise there will be some sort of update when i get back.

oh!
i did finish a pair of mittens while i was at work yesterday.

when i was awake and not working

another tech week has come and gone. this one was particularly tricky and energy draining for several reasons.

1. cast of 19 actors ranging in age from 14-40ish.
2. Chicago = musical. musical = always more work.
3. 118 mile round trip drive daily. (that is approx 60-75 minutes one way)
4. rain. lots of it.
5. i was trying to get 2 other shows under control at the same time.

but when i was awake and not working, some interesting things happened.

for instance, i learned that you can buy drain opener in a convenient 80 oz family size bottle. this is very good when you live in an old apartment and this elixir of life allow you to shower and wash dishes. i always just bought two bottles at a time in the past. score!

while picking up some props for the director of my next show i bought a second 6-drawer organizer. it is now filled with all of the notions, trim, crafty bits, and other flotsam and jetsam of being a costume designer. i used to keep this stuff in bags piled in my anne frank closet (yes, that is the name--and it is a story) with little rhyme or reason because i hadn't taken the step to get organized. now my sequins are all together! now i won't buy a 15th package of 3/8" wide non-roll black elastic!


this organizational bender (which was undoubtedly fueled by sleep deprivation) reveled that i own 9 tape measures. yes, 9. that i am aware of. new ones crop up all the time. but i can never find one when i want it. if you looks closely in my new and improved bag of tape measures (in a drawer!) you will see that one of those tape measures is still in the package. nice.


i finished knitting a mitten. production meetings are always so long, and you spend so much time talking about light cues that traveling with knitting is a must. i am lucky that my director for this show is a friend and he is married to one of my knitting BFFs. he gets it.

isn't the mitten beautiful?
i love it. i can't wait until i have two finished mittens! i am also excited about taking a picture outside in real light. the colors are amazing in real light. this is my own take on an existing pattern. don't look too closely at the top decreases they are hard to work in seed stitch and maintain the pattern.

i shiver with anticipation!

by the end of the week my hands should be warm again. i have not had proper hand coverings since i put my own gloves into a show the first week of january. (always the shoe maker's children....)

fun stuff, huh?